© 2024 Alice Wood
© 2024 International Urantia Association (IUA)
| Retrospective on the 2024 International Conference | Tidings — June 2024 — Index | Announcing Two New Programs |
Alice Wood, USA
The Children and Teen Program at Urantia Association’s Baltimore Conference provided kids with a space to play, make friends, and learn about Urantia teachings. Sixteen kids were put into two different mixed-age groups and moved through activities in the Hometown Nazareth curriculum, a Vacation Bible School curriculum made by Group (group.com). This curriculum was adapted by Urantia Book readers for Urantia kids, and it helped pave the way for the volunteers to talk about Jesus as our earthly brother, and as Michael our Creator Son. It provided fun music videos, Nazareth-themed activities and crafts, stimulating decor, and verbal prompts that the volunteers used for starting conversations. The volunteers thoroughly adopted the spirit of the program. They very often dressed as residents of Nazareth. They could be heard talking about the times that Jesus lived in, Jesus’ childhood, and when opportunities presented themselves, volunteers segued from talking about Jesus to things like Michael and the Mother Spirit, the meaning of “morontia,” and the spirit of service.
¶ Adapting the Program for Urantia Kids
Each day there was a morning and afternoon session, and each session had a different theme: Jesus had a family; Jesus had a name; Jesus had a home; and Jesus served others. Think for a moment about how you might talk about these topics with kids, and how they could initiate conversations about content from other parts of The Urantia Book. As an example, during the theme “Jesus had a home,” the kids were given this coloring page:
The conversation moved from talking about Jesus to talking about Michael and the Mother Spirit, and their home on Salvington. During this activity, the kids asked one question after another—their curiosity had been piqued and they wanted to know more about these personalities and how they relate to us.
Of course, the Children and Teen Program had playful times as well. Each session began with singing and dancing along with music videos, during which time a dinosaur regularly joined in. As skits with the dinosaur unfolded, the kids learned that he was lost. After he eventually found his way home, the dinosaur returned to the kids and revealed that he is the Eastesaur, an assistant to the Easter Bunny (and yes, there was an Easter egg hunt).
¶ Engaging the Middle Schoolers
The oldest kids in the program were ages 11-13 and they spent part of their time working directly with the kids. Among other things, our middle school-helpers led kids from one station to another, helped prepare for activities, cleaned up after activities, and sat with kids who needed a little extra attention.
They were also given time apart where they did service activities just with each other. On Friday they set up a special reading space where the younger kids could do “Campfire Storytime.” This involved setting up Christmas lights, glow stars, blankets on the floor, and a pretend fire pit. On Saturday they stuffed Easter eggs for the kids, and on Sunday they hid the Easter eggs.
The middle schoolers helped in a way that was reliable and cheerful. Afterward, they reported that they enjoyed being entrusted with responsibility. But, it wasn’t all work for the middle schoolers. They also enjoyed a level of freedom that was appropriate for their age. When done with their tasks, they were able to hang out in the game room with a ping pong table and a pool table, and they went on two field trips: to the aquarium, and to the Maryland Science Center to see an IMAX documentary about the Webb telescope.
¶ Wonderfully Successful Fundraiser
Service was a recurring theme for all of the kids. One way that we emphasized the value of service was by asking the kids to do a fundraiser for FreeSchools, a charity that runs 20 schools in some of the poorest parts of India.
On the first full day, the group talked about the importance of helping others. The kids were shown a video about FreeSchools and were told about the need for money to support those schools. Then, the kids made bookmarks to be sold in the conference bookstore the next day. The bookmarks did not have a set price and instead were sold for an amount of the buyer’s choosing.
The bookmarks sold out very quickly and they raised $530 for FreeSchools. Everyone in the Children’s Program is amazed and grateful for the generosity of the Urantia Community for helping to make this fundraiser a success.
Thank you to CosmicCreations for managing the logistics of selling the bookmarks. And thank you to everyone who made a donation. I was thrilled to tell the kids how generous you were with your donations. Alice Wood, director of Children and Teen Program
¶ References
| Retrospective on the 2024 International Conference | Tidings — June 2024 — Index | Announcing Two New Programs |